The relatively recent development of the semi-conductor has fairly revolutionized the electronics industry. The development of transistors and integrated circuits has induced the rethinking of manufacturing philosophies and has been responsible, in significant part, for the availability of many new products not previously commercially feasible because of size and expense constraints.
The revolution has greatly affected the consumer-oriented market. While only a few decades ago products such as pocket calculators were virtually unimaginable, the new semi-conductor technologies have made them a reality.
This electronics revolution has not, however, been restricted to the consumer market. Rather, its effects have impacted even more significantly upon the industrial, governmental, and defense markets.
One of such devices is known as an EPROM. This acronym stands for "erasable programmable read-only memory". While EPROMs can take one of various forms, a typical, and frequently employed, configuration is that known as a DIP. A more recently developed package form is known as an LCC or leadless chip carrier. DIPs are microcircuit packages with two rows of leads, each row extending from one of opposite edges of a main body of the device and generally perpendicular to the main body. Each row can vary in the number of leads it includes, but the number is typically between seven and twenty. The spider-like structure formed by the leads and the main body of the device renders the device capable of being easily inserted into an etched circuit board. LCCs are microcircuit packages with the contacts (leads) not extending beyond the edges of the device, and such devices are surface mounted on etched circuit boards.
Because of the unique construction of DIPs and LCCS, storing them in such a way so as to avoid damage during transportation is important. Storage tubes for DIPs having a generally trapezoidal outer-perimeter cross-section have been developed for this purpose and are employed to hold pluralities of DIPs and protect their leads while they are maintained within the tubes. The non-parallel sides of the tubes accommodate flaring of the leads of the devices, and distal edges of the tube defining wall are angled down between the positions of the leads of the devices when they are stored in the tube.
A plurality of DIPs are receivable in such a tube. The specific number will vary depending upon the length to which the tube is manufactured, the length of main body portions of the devices stored therein, and other factors. A pin can be inserted through an aperture at each end of the tube to secure devices received therein from inadvertently escaping.
Various high speed apparatus have been developed for programming and testing such devices. Because of the high degree of efficiency with which such apparatus operate, it is important that commensurately efficient fed systems be utilized so that the speed at which devices are fed to a programmer or tester is not an unduly limiting factor.
A number of machines are commercially available wherein devices in a tube are manually emptied into a chute which transmits them to a station at which they are programmed or tested. As would be apparent, machines wherein such feed systems are employed are restricted and limited in the speed at which they can operate. Frequently, programming or testing operations "mark time" while the apparatus is waiting for additional DIP parts to be inserted.
Improvements have been devised wherein tubes can be inserted into a hopper for subsequent automatic emptying. Devices of this type of which applicant is aware, however, involve a significant number of moving parts. For example, such automatic feed systems can employ elevators, tilting mechanisms, etc. By employing such relatively complicated mechanisms, the risk of jamming or other malfunctions increases and the devices will have a higher cost.
It is to these problems of the prior art and the desirable features dictated by these problems that the present invention is directed. It is an improved structure for feeding DIP storage tubes to a station at which they are emptied, for facilitating emptying of the tubes while they are at the station, and for disposing of the tubes into a bin after they have been emptied. These functions are performed automatically, in volume, and without unnecessary and operationally hindering moving parts.